Raiders History
Super Bowl XVIII
Tampa Stadium; Sunday, Jan. 22, 1984; Attendance: 72,920; Time: 3:31 PM PST; Weather: 68°F; partly cloudy, wind NE 20 mph
Famously dubbed “Black Sunday” by NFL Films, Super Bowl XVIII put on display the best that the
NFL had to offer as the Los Angeles Raiders drubbed the Washington Redskins, 38-9. The resounding
victory rested on the running brilliance of Marcus Allen and the strength of dominating defense and
special teams play that lifted the Raiders to the club’s third Super Bowl title in eight years.
Clad in their famous black jerseys, the Raiders jumped on the
scoreboard first as Derrick Jensen blocked a first-quarter punt deep
in Washington territory and fell on the ball in the end zone for a
touchdown. In the second quarter, Jim Plunkett orchestrated an
efficient three-play drive that culminated in a 12-yard touchdown
pass to Cliff Branch.
After a Redskins field goal, the Silver and Black defense would
strike just moments before halftime. Keying on a Washington
screen pass play that had worked successfully against the Raiders
during a regular season meeting between the two teams, defensive
coordinator Charlie Sumner inserted reserve Jack Squirek with time
winding down in the first half. As Joe Theismann lobbed a screen out
towards Joe Washington from the 12-yard line, Squirek stepped in
front of the pass and returned the interception for a touchdown to
give the Raiders a 21-3 halftime advantage.
The Raiders’ second half performance was just as dominant as the
team shifted focus to its running game, led by Allen. The secondyear
running back scored a third-quarter touchdown on a 5-yard run
before breaking off perhaps the finest run in Super Bowl history later
in the same period. Allen took a handoff from Plunkett and started
left on the play but went too wide for his blocking and reversed his
field, burst free of pursuit and found the end zone after a 74-yard
sprint to give the Raiders an insurmountable lead and give the city of
Los Angeles its first and only Super Bowl victory.
Allen was the easy choice as the game’s Most Valuable Player,
gaining 191 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns.
RE DSKINS RAIDERS
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS 19 18
By Rushing 7 8
By Passing 10 9
By Penalty 2 1
THIRD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 6-17-35% 5-13-38%
FOURTH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1-0% 0-0-0%
TOTAL NET YARDS 283 385
Total Offensive Plays 73 60
Average gain per offensive play 3.9 6.4
NET YARDS RUSHING 90 231
Total Rushing Plays 32 33
Average gain per rushing play 2.8 7.0
NET YARDS PASSING 193 154
Times thrown – yards lost att. to pass 6-50 2-18
Gross yards passing 243 172
PASS ATT-COMP-INT 35-16-2 25-16-0
Average gain per pass play 4.7 5.7
PUNTS Number and Average 7-37.0 7-42.7
TOTAL RETURN YARDS (not inc. kickoffs) 167 30
No. and Yards Punt Returns 2-35 2-8
No. and Yards Kickoff Returns 7-132 1-17
No. and Yards Interception Returns 0-0 2-5
PENALTIES Numbers and Yards 4-62 7-56
FUMBLES Numbers and Lost 1-1 3-2
EXTRA POINTS Made-Attempts 0-1 5-5
FIELD GOALS Made-Attempts 1-2 1-1
SAFETIES 0 0
FINAL SCORE 9 38
Score by quarter
1 2 3 4 OT TOTAL
WASHINGTON 0 3 6 0 – 9
LOS ANGELES 7 14 14 3 – 38
RAIDERS STarters
OFFENSE DEFENSE
C 50 D. Dalby NT 62 R. Kinlaw
G 73 C. Hannah DE 77 L. Alzado
G 65 M. Marvin DE 75 H. Long
T 79 B. Davis LB 83 T. Hendricks
T 70 H. Lawrence LB 53 R. Martin
TE 46 T. Christensen LB 55 M. Millen
WR 80 M. Barnwell LB 51 B. Nelson
WR 21 C. Branch CB 37 L. Hayes
RB 32 M. Allen CB 22 M. Haynes
RB 33 K. King FS 26 V. McElroy
QB 16 J. Plunkett SS 36 M. Davis
Redskins STarters
OFFENSE DEFENSE
C 53 J. Bostic DT 65 D. Butz
G 68 R. Grimm DT 77 D. Grant
G 73 M. May DE 79 T. Liebenstein
T 66 J. Jacoby DE 72 D. Manley
T 74 G. Starke LB 55 M. Kaufman
TE 88 R. Walker LB 57 R. Milot
TE 85 D. Warren LB 52 N. Olkewicz
WR 87 C. Brown CB 28 D. Green
WR 81 A. Monk CB 24 A. Washington
RB 44 J. Riggins FS 29 M. Murphy
QB 7 J. Theismann SS 48 K. Coffey
Scoring summary
TM QTR TIME PLAY DESCRIPTION WASH LA
LA 1 4:52 D. Jensen blocked punt return (C. Bahr kick) 0 7
LA 2 5:46 C. Branch 12 yd. pass from J. Plunkett (C. Bahr kick) (3-65, 1:34) 0 14
WAS 2 11:55 M. Moseley 24 yd. Field Goal (13-73, 6:09) 3 14
LA 2 14:53 J. Squirek 5 yd. interception return (C. Bahr kick) 3 21
WAS 3 4:08 J. Riggins 1 yd. run (kick blocked) (9-70, 4:08) 9 21
LA 3 7:54 M. Allen 5 yd. run (C. Bahr kick) (8-70, 3:46) 9 28
LA 3 15:00 M. Allen 74 yd. run (C. Bahr kick) (1-74, 0:12) 9 35
LA 4 12:36 C. Bahr 21 yd. Field Goal (8-55, 3:55) 9 38
LOS ANGELES RAIDERS
RUSHING Att Yd Avg Lg TD
M. Allen 20 191 9.5 74 2
K. King 3 12 4.0 10 0
F. Hawkins 3 6 2.0 3 0
G. Pruitt 5 17 3.4 11 0
J. Plunkett 1 -2 -2.0 -2 0
C. Willis 1 7 7.0 7 0
Total 33 231 7.0 74 2
PASSING Att Cm Yds TD Lg In
J. Plunkett 25 16 172 1 50 0
Total 25 16 172 1 50 0
RECEIVING No Yd Avg Lg TD
M. Allen 2 18 9.0 12 0
K. King 2 8 4.0 7 0
T. Christensen 4 32 8.0 14 0
C. Branch 6 94 15.7 50 1
F. Hawkins 2 20 10.0 14 0
Total 16 172 10.8 50 1
INTERCEPTIONS No Yd Avg Lg TD
J. Squirek 1 5 5.0 5T 1
M. Haynes 1 0 0.0 0 0
Total 2 5 2.5 5T 1
PUNT RETURNS No Yd Avg FC Lg TD
T. Watts 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
G. Pruitt 1 8 8.0 3 8 0
Total 2 8 4.0 3 8 0
KICK RETURNS No Yd Avg Lg TD
G. Pruitt 1 17 17.0 17 0
Total 1 17 17.0 17 0
Was hington Redskins
RUSHING Att Yd Avg Lg TD
J. Riggins 26 64 2.5 8 1
J. Theismann 3 18 6.0 8 0
J. Washington 3 8 2.7 5 0
Total 32 90 2.8 8 1
PASSING Att Cm Yds TD Lg In
J. Theismann 35 16 243 0 60 2
Total 35 16 243 0 60 2
RECEIVING No Yd Avg Lg TD
C. Didier 5 65 13.0 20 0
J. Washington 3 20 6.7 10 0
A. Garrett 1 17 17.0 17 0
C. Brown 3 93 31.0 60 0
N. Giaquinto 2 21 10.5 14 0
A. Monk 1 26 26.0 26 0
J. Riggins 1 1 1.0 1 0
Total 16 243 15.2 60 0
INTERCEPTIONS No Yd Avg Lg TD
— — — — —
PUNT RETURNS No Yd Avg FC Lg TD
N. Giaquinto 1 1 1.0 2 1 0
D. Green 1 34 34.0 0 34 0
Total 2 35 17.5 2 34 0
KICK RETURNS No Yd Avg Lg TD
A. Garrett 5 100 20.0 35 0
D. Grant 1 32 32.0 32 0
B. Kimball 1 0 0.0 0 0
Total 7 132 18.6 35 0
66 2019 Gameday